1949

It was a dark and stormy night. Ominously, 13 people (and one black dog with sharp teeth) were gathered for dinner at the remote hillside house of Gordonand Doris Thomas. This was shortly after Dartmouth had trounced Colgate in weather that seemed more appropriate for, say, a Mainiac checking his lobster pots. In fact, half the people in the stands wore yellow slickers against the circling wind and driving rain. The other half were soaked -through.

By seven o'clock the power had failed throughout the Upper Valley and in those lonely Vermont woods the Thomases' guests huddled together as flickering candlelight bounced off the long window wall, imitating the lightning outside. It was plenty scary—until Punchy announced that there was plenty of ice and a back-up gas stove. So a good time was had by all: AllenBrooks, Vail and Barbara Haak, Deanand Lorrie Merrill, your secretary and Alargo, Richie Hunt, Chet Palmer, Jayand Barbara Rosenfield.

Jay, who lives in New London and operates a dry-cleaning business in Concord, revealed another facet in his entrepreneurial endeavors. He now owns the Mountainside Racquet and Fitness Center in New London, acquired a year or so ago and now well into turn-around. He and Barbara had played tennis at the club as members and were saddened to see it faltering under lax management. "Auction it," said the bank. Bidding against a reserve bid of the bank itself, Jay found himself nodding to the auctioneer at the $145,000 level. "Bang," went the gavel. By now Jay has found competent managers—and he gets to play tennis free.

Still another '49er is involved in a real estate deal, at a slightly more pricey level: $6.9 million. According to a Sotheby International ad in the Wall Street Journal last October, Ed Leede and his family are offering their 12-bed room, 20,000 squarefoot "camp" on Mount Desert Island, Maine, for sale. Unfurnished, we're only talking $6.4 million, and the suggested "good opening offer" is a low $5 million. Built in 1925 and called Sky lands, this is the former summer residence of Edsel Ford, and neighbors include some Rockefellers and some Bass. There are two separate guest houses on the 61 acres. Sounds like a pretty good deal. Maybe you could do some lobstering on the side.

The ad was brought to my attention by Captain Alan S. Hodges, USNR (Ret.), who writes from Bedford, Mass. "I am pretty much retired from the shoe and leather industry—it's been destroyed by cheap labor in Asia. I do a little consulting. Retired from the Naval Reserve ten years ago at 60, after 43 years service. The antimilitary attitude in Hanover is disgusting to me. Married almost 48 years to a Norwich girl (we have family all over the Hanover-Norwich-Wilder-Lyme area), we remember Wigwam with affection," says Alan. "We have two children and five grandchildren. We spend a month in Maine at Rangeley Lake in the summer and three months in the Florida Keys right after New Years."

Box 215 A, Fairlee, VT 05045;